Union president angers officer

As president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, Mike Helle has a long history of defending officers in trouble. Just last week, Helle spoke up for a police detective accused of failing to investigate more than 130 cases of sexual assault and family violence.

Nonetheless, in a report that appeared Sunday, Helle blasted another San Antonio police officer for accidentally discharging his personal rifle while changing a battery on its mounted light kit. According to a police report, shrapnel struck the back of a nearby officer’s neck, causing a superficial burn.

“Anybody that was around (the officer) when it went off is probably looking at the credibility of that guy, whether or not they really feel safe around him,” Helle told WOAI-TV. “To be honest with you, and being an old veteran like myself, I wouldn’t say that I would not be upset, especially if you almost took somebody out while you were there messing around with your gun.”

In response, Officer Jordan Ramirez on Sunday sent a blistering email to Helle, describing the “utter anger” he felt when he read the comments and questioning why the union president would attack him for an accident while defending another officer accused of more egregious behavior.

“What I saw was my SAPOA President, who I thought would be in my corner, crucifying me to the Citizens of San Antonio,” Ramirez wrote. “What adds to my disappointment is the fact that last week, you felt the need to defend a SVU (Special Victims Unit) detective who failed to properly investigate dozens of cases where juveniles were sexually victimized.”

City Manager Sheryl Sculley announced last week that Detective Kenneth Valdez had been fired for failing to investigate more than 130 cases of sexual assault and family violence — some involving children. Helle rushed to Valdez’s defense, telling the Rivard Report that the city “threw him under the bus before we completed a thorough investigation” and claiming to KSAT-TV that the city’s findings were “greatly exaggerated.”

On Monday, Helle told me, “The only thing I did regarding the Valdez case was correct an inaccuracy that the city manager put out. … It wasn’t 130 (cases). It was a handful.”

(City officials on Monday stood by their original count of mishandled cases.)

As far as his criticism of Ramirez, whom he referred to as a “little kid,” Helle said he merely was stating “the truth.”

“He has to re-establish his credibility with his co-workers,” he said. “When something like this happens, when you’re going into a warrant, into a house, would you want that guy right behind you?”

Helle added, “There’s only one way for your weapon to discharge. You’ve got to pull the trigger.”

Ramirez said he did not have his finger on the rifle’s trigger when the weapon discharged inside an office of the Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit, according to the police report. The incident is under an Internal Affairs investigation.

“No officer, me included, ever wants to have any sort of accidental discharge with any of our weapons,” Ramirez wrote to Helle. “I take responsibility for my errors and will stand up and say so. However, what I need from my association is support, not further criticism. … In particular, I take serious offense to your ridiculous comments regarding my credibility.”

Ramirez added in the email, “I’ve believed people who live in glass houses, shouldn’t throw stones” — an apparent reference to a 1993 incident in which one of Helle’s sons, John, then 3, found a gun under a pillow at Helle’s home and accidentally shot himself in the abdomen. (John survived and is now an SAPD officer.)

“I won’t even dignify that with a response,” Helle told me. “That’s pretty low to bring my son into it like that.”

Helle did respond to Ramirez’s email.

“My intention wasn’t to hurt him or harm him,” Helle said. “And I apologized to him if he took offense to my comment.”

Helle might have apologized to Ramirez, but he showed the officer no mercy Monday — an unusual posture for someone whose job is to stick up for other officers.

“There were other people around (Ramirez) that were thinking the same thing that I was saying,” Helle said. “I’ve got the majority of the people on the other side praising me, thanking me for saying exactly what they were thinking.

“He can be angry with me all he wants to,” he added. “I stopped a long time ago trying to please everybody.”